The succeeding interval of tranquillity was but of short duration. Edward's secret marriage with one of his subjects, after having demanded a foreign princess, irritated the nobleman who had successfully conducted the negociation, while the honours heaped on the family of the new queen offended the ancient nobility: such is the nature of world By their fruits ye shall know for her support and that of her them," is a scriptural maxim as children to the respect which reasonable as it is true. A na-her confidence and heroism intion of warlike christians is there-spired in the breast of a robber, fore, to say the least, a very sus- whose protection she requested picious sight for all attentive on his approach to her; but readers of their Bible must allow, Henry, after a year's concealthat war is antichristian; and that,ment, was taken prisoner, and at all events, all but strictly de- confined to the tower. fensive warfare must be iniquitous and presumptuous; and it will be found, on close examination, that by far the greater part of what has been so called might have been avoided, not only consistently with national safety, but with the highest honour and the greatest glory. What are we then to say of reigns in which battle after battle ensued, wherein not only fellow-countrymen, (revoltingly glory. Secret negociations sight!) but the nearest relatives, attempted and effected each other's destruction? What avails it that thousands and tens of thousands of priests covered the land? What avail the most laborious formalities, the most pompous ceremonies, the longest prayers and the severest penances, while every place but the very altar is stained with human blood? The battle of Touton was the first which disgraced this reign, after which Henry and Margaret prudently fled into Scotland. The parliament, as was usual in these unprincipled times, declared for were entered into, and parties formed, in which the nearest relatives were conspiring each other's ruin, The king on the other hand seemed anxious to strengthen his power by foreign friendships, and entered into an alliance with Burgundy; but an insurrection in Yorkshire, and the battle of Banbury which followed, soon called home all his attention. The most extraordinary events now occurred in rapid succession. Warwick, and Clarence the king's brother, were banished for their hostility to his power; but they soon found friends abroad, and iu the short space of eleven days victor, expressing their after their return, Edward was surprise and abhorrence at the expelled in his turn. Henry was presumption and usurpation of accordingly released from prison, the house of Lancaster, and pass- and once more placed on the ed an act of forfeiture and at- throne; but, before his queen tainder against Henry VI. and and her followers could arrive, Margaret, while several of their Edward returned, aided by the most distinguished partisans were politic duke of Burgundy, and by condemned to die. The battle of evading Warwick's army, pushed Hexham followed, still more un-forward, presented himself with fortunate for the Lancastrian his troops before the gates of cause. Margaret took refuge in a London, and was at once adwood, where she was indebted mitted. The dreadful battle at the Barnet followed, in which Warwick fell, and immense numbers on both sides were slain, but the victory was Edward's; and it happened singularly, that on the very day of this event, queen Margaret landed at Weymouth, just in time to hear of the defeat of her army; and although she was encouraged by some desperate nobles still to persevere, the battle of Tewkesbury, the death of king Henry, and the murder of her son, put an end to all her hopes. The same absence of moral principle which had characterized the government of the nation during the disgraceful civil wars, nów induced Edward to employ his leisure in foreign invasion, and fruitless but expensive expeditions. The trial of his brother the duke of Clarence, who had acted against him in several wars, but who had returned to his allegiance, was the last memorable act of his reign, he himself being soon after called to his account by the great and only Potentate. Thus passed a period of more than twenty years, a period which the lover of his country might be almost tempted to wish obliterated from the pages of its history a period, however, which may furnish the attentive reader with many useful lessons. H. S. A. Obituary and Recent Deaths. HENRY TIPPEN. DIED on Tuesday, November 19, 1822, Mr. Henry Tippen, at Bromley, near Bow, Middlesex, leaving a widow and five children. long time, providence led him into an acquaintance with some Christians who worshipped at Lady Hunt ingdon's Chapel at Lewes, and by their means, while he requested fellowship with them, he was brought to see the method of salvation! He was born at Ringmore, near Here we can borrow his own words Lewes, in Sussex, on June 7, in the in some verses which he wrote about year 1757, and died in the sixty-this time, which had not indeed sixth year of his age. much poetry, but a great deal of piety in them. It appears from a manuscript he has left, that when he was about sixteen years and a half old, he was brought into personal affliction, and greatly terrified with apprehensions of the wrath to come. The terrors of God flowed in upon him like overwhelming waters. Neither his parents, nor his medical attendant, nor the clergyman of the parish, could administer any effectual relief. At length his life was in danger-despondency approaching to despair settled upon his mind, and preyed upon his vitals. Having continued in this dreadful state a "But after all these frights and fears, The happy time did come- Now old things passed away and all things became new; and the joy of his deliverance was proportioned to the bitterness of his previous state of bondage. "It seem'd as if this earth below. This too was succeeded by a sea, son of severe temptation, accompa nied with perplexity of mind which no words can fully express. Thus it appears, that a stormy, cloudy morning may be followed by a long, bright, and serene day. How soon he became a member of the Baptist church at Lewes, we cannot say; but that he was very bighly esteemed there, the following dismission letter will show. The church of Christ, of the Particular Baptist denomination at Lewes in Sussex, under the pastoral care of Joseph Middleton, to the church of Christ, of the same faith and order, at Old Ford, Middlesex, under the pastoral care of William Newman, sendeth christian salutation. Beloved Brethren, remove We have received a request from our brother and sister Tippen, whom Divine Providence has removed into your neighbourhood, to their church-membership from us to you; and after a long and very intimate acquaintance with our brother and sister, we can, and do, most cordially, recommend them to your christian affection, as persons sound in the faith, possessing experimental godliness, and a walk worthy of the vocation with which they are called. And, though we part from them with regret, as being two of the greatest ornaments our church ever had, yet as he who fixes the bounds of our habitation, has removed them so far as not to fill up their places in their mother church, and considering their spiritual improvement, we do very willingly give them up to you, and humbly hope that they may prove as worthy members of your church as they have ever been of ours. Praying for their and your prosperity in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, we remain During the last two years he suffered great bodily affliction. But though a very heavy pressure was upon him, he appeared uniformly serious, patient, and tranquil to the last. Frequently he discovered, with strong emotions, the tenderest anxiety on behalf of his wife and his children, whom he was about to leave behind. In the last weeks of his life he spoke, as he had often done before, with great freedom and comfort respecting his own personal safety: "All my hope is in him that was once extended on the tree.—I wish to stand by the side of the publican and cry, God be merciful to me a sinner.-How blessed that world where all are of one sentiment, and there is no jarring!-All things will be smooth in another state.-I must come to Christ now as a poor perishing sinner!" On Wednesday afternoon, the 27th, he was followed to the grave by his surviving widow and children, and a long train of sincere mourners. The deacons (except two, confined by personal affliction) were pall-bearers, and a large number of the members of the church came to take leave of a man who had been most justly endeared to them. The church of which he had been a valuable deacon more than twenty-three years, has resolved to set up a stone over his grave, in grateful remembrance of his faithful, affectionate, zealous, and useful services. "For On Lord's-day afternoon, Dec. 1, Dr. Newman, the pastor of the a funeral sermon was delivered by church, from 1 Tim. iii. 13. they that have used the office of a deacon well, purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus." We have heard of deacons who, "dressed in a little brief authority," Your affectionate brethren and like Diotrephes, and swelling with sisters. Signed by order of the church, and in the name of the whole, by JOSEPH MIDDLETON, Lewes, 24 Sept. 1795. * Elizabeth Tippen, here referred to, died Feb. 21, 1810. VOL. XV. pride and pomp, have trampled on the poor of the flock, insulted the pastor and the church, and lorded it over God's heritage. Henry Tippen was not one of that class. Highly respectable for the measure of christian knowledge he attained, he excelled in love. He loved the C church, and the pastor, and his | brethren in office, "with a pure heart fervently." And though to a stranger it might appear that he paid more respect to the sterner virtues, than to the softer graces of the christian character, he was a man of great tenderness and warm affection. Witness the tears of all the widows and others who wept at the tidings of his death! His zeal was disinterested; and the sacrifices which it prompted him to make will not be fully known till the day when they shall be published and rewarded by the Saviour himself. His fidelity was never impeached, nor even suspected: and his perseverance in a series of useful services to the end of life, must be thankfully ascribed to the grace of God which was with him. Review. The Doctrine of Scripture relative to | We have said that Socinianism WHOEVER has attentively considered the spirit of Socinianism, or, as many of its votaries would rather denominate it, Unitarianism, cannot fail to have observed that it borders upon the cold and frigid region of infidelity. In one sense it may be considered as more pernicious, inasmuch as under a pretended reverence for the sacred scriptures, and bearing the hallowed name of christianity, it, in fact, endeavours to sap the foundations of revelation by lanthropic is, indeed, its spirit. It has hitherto contemplated, with the most unfeeling indifference, the miserable state of the heathen world, and suffered its zeal to evaporate in mere philippicks against those who, believing the doctrines of the cross of Christ, have endeavoured, and are still endeavouring, to promote the best interests of the human race. May we not say in the animated but correct language of Mr. Draper: "What have Socinians done towards the amelioration of the heathen world? Where are their Brainerds, Whitefields? When did they expend and Elliots, and Swartzes, and immense sums, and make large personal sacrifices, for the extension of the blessings of the gospel, and of course for the spread of civilization and humanity?" We do not, however, wish to hold up every Unitarian as destitute of regard for his species. Many among them we respect and pity, whose amiable conduct would have done honour to a better cause. We its unfair mode of criticism, and attempts, but vainly attempts, to overthrow its principal doctrines. Those who would, at first, have been shocked at the idea of becoming the followers of noted, modern infidels, are introduced, before they are aware, into the very vortex of unbelief, and taught to trample under foot the blood of the Saviour,-to despise the doctrine of his atonement for human guilt,—to laugh at his threatenings of future punish-direct our remarks against the genement-and to boast of the purity and virtue of human nature, in opposition to the plain declarations of scripture, that man is a fallen, ruined, and depraved being. ral spirit and tendency of the system; and against the fiery zeal of many of its adherents, who seem to lie in a state of perfect torpidity, except when they raise the hue and cry against those who conscientiously | I should be happy to convince him of believe those doctrines which they contemptuously reject. Our author, in the execution of his plan, commences by repelling the wanton and uncalled-for sar his errors, I would not willingly wound the feelings of the gentleman to whose The little work before us was work I have thought it my duty to rewritten in reply to a book published ply. I do most sincerely wish him by the Rev. Russell Scott of Ports- every temporal, spiritual, and eternal mouth, in which he attempts to to hear that he was diligently employgood; and I should especially rejoice deny the doctrines of scripture, re-ed in preaching the glorious Gospel of specting the existence of evil spirits, the blessed God." P. 108. and the eternity of future punishments. Though bearing a small proportion in size to the work alluded to, it appears to us to grasp, with a powerful hand, all the principal topics treated of in that book; to expose the false interpretations of scripture contained in it; and to state, with great perspicuity, the doctrine of scripture on the points in dispute. The character of Mr. Draper peculiarly fitted him for entering the lists with Mr. Scott. We must admire the spirit in which the reply is written, as truly the spirit of christian candour and kindness. He speaks as one who feels the vast importance of the truth which he defends, yet no harsh expression is allowed to escape him; nothing but what breathes the best wishes for his opponents and the human race. He seems to feel," that the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." Though called to notice the unwarranted irony of Mr. Scott, not a single severe expression escapes him. He breathes the spirit of his Master, and evinces, not the zeal of a partizan, but a desire to guard the unwary against the snare which is laid for them. May the blessing of heaven attend his efforts, and prevent many from adopting principles of interpretation subversive of all due regard for the sacred volume. The spirit we have noticed will be perceived from the following extract from the Preface, which we beg to assure our readers is a fair specimen of the whole. "Being naturally averse to controversy, it was with great reluctance that, in compliance with the importunity of a few friends, whom I much esteem, I undertook a reply to Mr. Scott. *** I should be sorry indeed, if I have employed any expressions which are improper, and unbecoming an advocate for truth. Though casm of Mr. Scott, in styling his opponents "Devil believers"-" AdVocates for the Devil"-" Devil defenders," &c. On this subject he observes, "Thus on the same principle that persons who believe that there is a malignant being called the Devil, are termed Devil advocates' and 'Devil defenders, it might be said that Dr. Mead was an adbecause he wrote on both these subvocate for the plague and poison, jects," &c. (Page 11.) He proceeds to expose (we think, with great effect) the mode of interpretation adopted by the Socinians, of referring to mere figurative language the plainest records of scripture, whenever they wish to get rid of any thing that opposes their own system. (Vide pages 12, 13, &c.) As a specimen of this sort of figurative language, we would transcribe Mr. Scott's view of the history of Jonah, with Mr. Draper's re marks. "Most readers have, I apprehend, supposed, that when it is said the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, this was literally the case. But no, says Mr. Scott: it means a ship, whose crew seeing him in danger, went to his relief, and rescued him from the jaws of death; and the name of that ship was the Whale. The historian tells us, and our Lord gives a similar account, that Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights ;-this, it appears, was all figurative, and means that he was put in the hold, or bottom of the vessel, three days and three nights; and when we are told that the Lord spake unto the fish, and he vomited outJonah on the dry land, we are to understand that he was safely rowed on shore. Is not this original? was ever deliverance |